The Man Who Was Joseph Hall
by cadeeo
Summary: Things are going well for Ianto. He's figuring things out with himself and Jack. But then he gets taken by the Rift and suddenly he's playing a game with unexpected allies in Cardiff. But it's much bigger than Cardiff and Earth. It's the Darkness...
1. Prolouge

**The Man Who Was Joseph Hall**

**By Cadeeo  
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..

Prologue

..

When Ianto showed up at Rhiannon's door on a regular Thursday, looking as impeccable as usual, Rhiannon was slightly surprised.

'Is it Christmas already?' she asked, raising an eyebrow.

'It's February,' Ianto deadpanned.

'Well, how would you know? You didn't show up at Christmas anyway,' Rhiannon said, trying not to let the hurt show in her voice. He'd called last minute and said he'd had to go to London for Christmas... for work. It was always bloody work with him. She often wondered if he had a life outside work. It didn't seem like it.

He at least had the decency to look guilty. 'It's just...'

'Work?' she helped.

'Yes... work,' he replied, looking at the floor.

Rhiannon sighed. 'You should quit.'

He shrugged.

'But you won't, so you want to come inside? Cuppa tea maybe?' she asked and stepped back to let him enter.

'Yes, tea sounds good,' he said and came inside.

She took his jacket and marvelled at the quality, Armani this time. 'Haven't got a clue how you can afford this on a civil servant salary.'

Ianto shrugged. 'Where are the devils?'

'David has footy practice. Johnny took him. Mica's with a friend,' Rhiannon replied and went into the kitchen. 'I've got the house to myself for a whole two hours!'

Ianto smiled slightly.

The few times she'd seen him the last two years, he'd rarely smiled, never a very happy smile, not even for his sister. He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes and he always become so distant.

'So, what have you been up to?' she asked him tentatively, sitting down in front of him by the kitchen table.

'Had a date with a nice girl yesterday,' he said, shrugging.

Rhiannon was surprised. 'No, you didn't?'

'No,' he smirked. 'I wish my life was that interesting. I've been working a lot recently.'

'You're always working a lot,' she commented.

'True that. Thought I'd invite myself to dinner tonight, though. It's been awhile.'

Rhiannon smiled. 'You're staying the whole afternoon, up until dinner?'

'This is if you want me to?'

'Course I want you to, you idiot. Johnny will have someone to talk rugby with.'

Two hours later, while Rhiannon had chatted away excitedly for the past hour about everything and nothing, she turned around and found Ianto lying face-down onto the table, sleeping.

She frowned. 'Uncomfortable that is,' she told herself, shrugged, and started on dinner.

..

Saving the world was good and well, but when it all was said and done, Ianto Jones had a knee injury and it fucking hurt. Johnny had noticed his limp and had questioned him about it. Ianto couldn't very well say he'd been thrown knees first, into a wall because Jack and he had been Weevil hunting. He'd said it was a rugby accident instead, but he hadn't played rugby since he left Wales for London. It was all about football for those Londoners and honestly he hadn't had the time. Torchwood tended to consume someone's life and he hadn't been the exception to the rule.

It was all right though. Things were looking up.

Except for the whole ordeal at Gwen's wedding, Jack had stood loyally behind their relationship, even initiated a couple of things that Ianto never would have guessed would happen. But it had happened and Ianto was happier. Even his compulsive need for everything to be neat and in order had begun to fade and Owen had diagnosed his OSD to be because of post-traumatic stress and not a chronic disorder he would have to deal with for the rest of his life.

The biggest problem at the moment wasn't the never-ending mess in the Archives or paperwork to be dealt with or even going on field missions, it was actually due to lack of sleep, which was due to late nights with Jack. And he had no need to complain about spending quality time with the Captain.

Going to his sister's definitely hadn't been planned. Jack was in Scotland, more specifically the Torchwood House to discuss the idea of a rebuild Torchwood One. It would be closely supervised by Jack at the beginning, because as the most senior member, Jack had inherited Yvonne Hartman's role as the Head of Torchwood. Gwen, Owen and Tosh were on Rift duty and it seemed relatively quiet that day. With no Jack around and a stocked up coffee supply, no one would notice Ianto's absence. Since everything with Flat Holm had been revealed, and it had been revealed Ianto had been the only one beside Jack who knew about it, they had stopped questioning him when he left. They just assumed he was on the island. It left him enormous breathing room for him to have some time off if he really felt like it. Unfortunately, he didn't have much of a life outside Torchwood, so he usually opted to stay around anyway.

Seeing Rhiannon, though, and his nephew and niece, reminded him why he fought, that it wasn't just Jack he fought for, but so that Mica wouldn't have to see the horrors that he saw everyday and that David wouldn't have to fight (if it ever came to that) because Torchwood stood on the frontlines and as long as Ianto lived, he would never allow David and Mica to be consumed by his world.

After the drive back from the Cromwell estate where Rhiannon lived, he parked his car in the parking garage of the apartment building he lived in and cursed the stairs for being invented in the first place. His knee wasn't cooperating and stairs certainly didn't help matters.

When he reached his floor, light could from underneath the door and a delicious smell reached his nose. He smiled and opened the door.

'Jack?' he called out, kicking off his shoes and hanging his jacket on the hanger he always had ready.

Jack appeared from the kitchen with a big smile and Ianto had to suppress a chuckle because of the flowery marigolds Jack had somehow gotten his hands on. 'Honey, you're home!' he said with an overly feminine voice and hand movements that could only be described as queer.

Sometimes Jack could be really gay.

'How was Scotland?' Ianto asked and became engulfed in a big warm hug.

'Wet. I'd forgotten how wet it was,' Jack replied and led Ianto into kitchen. 'Did you already eat?'

'Yeah,' Ianto said, feeling suddenly sorry. 'I didn't know you would be back today. Would have made you dinner myself if I had known.'

'It doesn't matter,' Jack said, waving his hand. 'I can eat for two.'

'More like nine, actually,' Ianto said, smirking.

Jack laughed and for the first time since Canary Wharf, everything was all right.

..

(5-1-11)


	2. Chapter One

..

Chapter One

..

'You need to put some ice on that,' Jack said, coming up behind Ianto by his workstation.

Ianto rubbed his knee. 'It's fine,' he muttered under his breath.

'It's not fine,' Jack protested. 'You've been favouring it.'

'Look, Jack, it is fine. It'll be fine,' Ianto said, staring down at his keyboard.

Gwen stared at them from her office, wondering when she had ever seen Jack openly being concerned for Ianto. Yes, they all knew something was going on, but neither Jack nor Ianto were very forthcoming on what exactly was happening. They sometimes appeared together in the morning, always the last ones to leave and these days Jack had started giving Ianto 'rides' home. More like 'rides' at home it was, she thought amusedly.

Jack was right though. Even she had started noticing Ianto sacking behind on missions. That it was his knee that was the problem... well, she hadn't known that. Jack obviously did. But Ianto seemed as reluctant as usual to give away any pain he might be feeling. It was his bloody pride.

'Let Owen take a look at it,' Jack continued, leaning against the workstation instead of standing behind Ianto.

'I had it checked out,' Ianto said, almost whispering.

'Yes, by the hospital, not Owen.'

'It's not necessary.'

'Yes, it's necessary.'

'Stop worrying. It doesn't suit you,' Ianto said and stood up to leave.

Jack grabbed his wrist and held him in place. 'If nothing happens in the next hour, I'll send the others home early and we'll go get it checked out by a physiotherapist or something.'

Ianto starred away from Jack, but finally sighed. 'All right, fine.'

Jack let go of his wrist and Ianto disappeared out of view, while Jack stared after him with a worried look.

Gwen studied him until he also left, not to go after Ianto, but to his office and from the looks of it, to brood.

What was it with men and brooding? Rhys brooded too sometimes and she couldn't stand it. Jack was the worst one she'd ever met. Of course, being around for a while, she supposed he had an excuse being an immortal and all. He had to pass the time somehow.

Then the alarm went off.

..

Jack's driving skills were impeccable. Unfortunately, he was so good that he thought that allowed him to bypass all laws of traffic. Of course with the giant Rift spike near Splott, getting there fast was a necessity. Gwen just wished they hadn't hit that cat. Poor creature caught afoul with Captain Jack Harkness' mad driving. No change of survival that was bloody sure.

They made it to Splott in record time (fortunately without further cat incidents) and exited the car in a small armed cluster of soldiers. That's what Gwen secretly called Torchwood in her mind, the Soldiers of Earth. Torchwood: Soldiers of Earth. It had a nice ring to it and everything. They even had a Captain.

'Gwen, Toshiko and Ianto, go left. Owen, with me,' Jack called out.

They quickly separated and covered the building from each side. Gwen cocked her gun and told Ianto and Toshiko to follow her silently. They made towards the back door and Ianto silently popped the lock and pushed the door open. It was relatively quiet, which was surprising by its look. Maybe someone had given it a good oiling. Lots of doors could use a good oiling.

Tosh indicated for them to go left, going with the directions her Rift predictor was showing her.

Gwen walked first, gun held high and completely aware of her surroundings.

'It keeps jumping throughout the house,' Jack's voice filtered over the comm.., almost whispering.

'I agree,' Tosh whispered from Gwen's right. 'There's no way to predict where exactly it'll open next.'

'Be careful, team,' Jack warned and they all muttered 'aye' under their breath.

The next couple of minutes were spent searching throughout the building, until Gwen suddenly felt the familiar tingle of the Rift behind her. Toshiko's device beeped simultaneously. It was right behind them.

Gwen turned around and found nothing.

'Ianto?' she called out quietly.

No answer.

'Ianto, love?' she tried again.

Ianto wasn't there.

She tapped her earpiece. 'Did Ianto come down to you?'

'No,' Jack replied quickly, muttering under his breath. 'Why?'

'Nothing,' she said, trying to keep her voice calm, but panic was overtaking her. 'Tosh, please tell me he didn't...'

Tosh was already crying, holding out the Rift detector in front of her. Gwen grabbed it and saw what Tosh had seen. It was an infrared scanning of the building.

There were only four dots.

..

Ianto tumbled to the ground with a groan and quickly got back to his feet, frantically trying to decipher what had happened, but it was all a bit blurry.

He looked around and stared in wonder.

..

(5-1-11)

This is a multi-chapter story. Currently have 19000 words. I'm proud.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

¤ A Week Later ¤

..

'Isn't that the company car?' Rhys asked.

Gwen stopped and looked at the spot where Rhys was looking. It was a Friday night. The sky was clear (for once) and Gwen could feel the four glasses of red wine beginning to make their presence known in her body. But that didn't change the fact that the SUV was standing outside a very familiar apartment complex, a place she had been to only two days before.

'It's Ianto's place,' she said and tears sprang to her eyes. Ianto was gone, swallowed by the Rift and he wouldn't be coming back.

Rhys put his arms around her and held her until the tears subsided. 'Shush, lovely,' he whispered into her hair.

'I love you, you know,' she muttered into his chest. 'I just wanted to tell you.'

'Love you, too. Are there any news about Ianto?'

Gwen shook her head. 'Jack doubts we'll ever see him again.'

Rhys held her tighter. 'Jack's in there then?' he asked, indicating towards the apartments.

'Probably,' she replied.

'Let's go then.'

Gwen led the way to the front door and fished out her keys from her purse. For security reason, they all had each other's keys. She used to the one that said 'Ianto' and walked with a steadfast pace up the stairs with Rhys following silently behind her.

'Jack?' she called out into Ianto's apartment. It was a posh place, impersonal, yet exactly what she expected from Ianto. It was a well-known secret he had OSD and the only reason the Hub was as clean as it was (or used to be, something she didn't want to dwell on), was because of his obsessive cleaning. Though the apartment showed signs of someone living there, it was as obsessively clean and orderly as everything else he touched.

She found Jack in the living room, staring at a spot above the television, two pictures clutched in his hands. 'Jack, love?' she said silently, crouching down in front of him and taking his hands.

'Leave me alone,' he said, still staring away from her.

Gwen pried the pictures out of his hands and tears sprang back into her eyes. The first one was of a woman that had to be Ianto's relative and two children, smiling into the camera in happiness. The second picture was of Jack and Ianto at the pub, smiling. It was clearly taken one night where the team had gone out, because it was ripped on the side, leaving only Jack and Ianto frozen in time, showered with happiness.

'He has a picture of you,' she told him simply.

'He had,' Jack reminded him.

'He cares for you, Jack. He cares enough to have a picture of you,' she said, refusing to accept what she knew must be true. She had seen what the Rift brought back, the broken people on Flat Holm and she hoped that Ianto wouldn't have to see those horrors and become like that. God, she didn't want that for him.

'Leave me alone,' Jack repeated, but his eyes were red, not from crying, but something very much near it.

Gwen took his hand, kissed his palm and left quickly with Rhys.

Jack always dealt with things alone. He wouldn't start accepting her comfort now. It hurt she couldn't help, that she couldn't help taking the pain away, but Jack had grieved before and Gwen grieved for herself.

Rhys took her hand and they walked home in silence.

..

¤ Future ¤

..

The bombs were falling, shattering everything above them, shooting fighters to the ground, and poisoning the foot soldiers. The base shock with every collision and debris fell to the splintered wooden floors, fighting to stay up by sheer will rather than collapsing and killing the planet's last defence.

A figure moved gracefully through the chaos, sidestepping dangers and heading straight towards the command centre.

'Captain Hall reporting,' he muttered to one of the operators.

The operator gave him an once-over, eyes lingering on the stripes on the shoulder, and indicated for him to move towards the central control room. '_She _wants to see you.'

Captain Hall nodded and moved towards the blonde woman. 'You called for me?'

The woman turned around and gave him a serious look. 'It's time.'

He nodded. 'I understand.'

'Good luck, Captain Joseph Hall.'

..

¤ Present ¤

..

The Hub was quiet, which in itself was a rare occurrence. But with Ianto's disappearance things had changed slightly. Jack had become the closed off wall Gwen had first met when she joined Torchwood; emotionally unreachable and a brick of mystery laced with empty humour and a loose trigger finger. She knew it must have been his coping mechanism, but it wasn't helping anyone. The atmosphere of the Hub had changed from simple familiarity to icy coldness, all because of Ianto bloody Jones.

If she ever had any doubt of Ianto significance to the team, they had thoroughly been stepped on, turned over and shot repeatedly.

'I saw him at Ianto's last night,' she whispered to Tosh and Owen who were both sitting on the couch, while she'd taken up the table in front of it. 'He was just sitting there... staring.'

'Poor sod's heartbroken,' Owen commented.

'Do you think they were in love?' Tosh asked silently.

Owen stared at his hands and Gwen sighed.

'Don't know. They're very...' she started.

'Private?' Tosh offered.

Gwen nodded. 'Yes, private.'

'I hope he's alive somewhere... out there,' Tosh said, dreamily and staring up into the Hub's ceiling. 'I hope he's surviving.'

'He might've landed on one of those pleasure plants Jack always goes on about,' Owen said, frowning. 'It doesn't sound too bad.'

Gwen giggled. 'Stop it, Owen.'

Owen smirked. 'Well, Jonesy always gets the best shags.'

'He does _not_!' Tosh said, grinning.

'He was shagging Jack, wasn't he?' Gwen said and instantly felt how their short-lived good time disappeared like rain in the desert.

'Nice, Gwen,' Owen muttered and leaned back on the couch, looking like he'd eaten something sour.

Tosh was crying silent tears.

'I'm sorry,' Gwen got out. 'This is the first time someone's... gone away since I started here. How do you cope?'

Owen sighed and pulled the still crying Tosh into his side. She buried her face in his shoulder and he gently kissed her hair.

Gwen felt like crying just because of the tenderness of the moment, of feeling lost and not knowing what to do.

'You just do,' Owen said, staring straight at her. 'You do because you have to, because Jack will replace Ianto eventually and because this is Torchwood. This is what you signed up for; saving the world and the death that comes with it.'

She stared at him wide-eyed, because he was right, because she had signed up for this and she couldn't let it beat her.

..


	4. Chapter Three

Reviews are love and the mystery of Joseph Hall thickens...

...

Chapter Three

...

He pressed the fabric to the bleeding wound, ordering John to hold the injured person still.

This couldn't happen. This was not supposed to happen.

'You have to do it now!' John shouted. 'Do it now!'

He nodded and pressed his other hand to the wound. 'I know.'

'Don't stall! We can't afford to stall, not anymore!'

'I know!' Ianto yelled more forcefully. 'I just... I can't leave him.'

'You aren't leaving him. You're going back to him, your Jack.'

Ianto dried his eyes with his bloodstained hand, refusing to acknowledge that it was tears. He would not cry because of something that wasn't right in the first place. He couldn't cry over spilt milk, however bad the metaphor.

'Do it, Yan,' a haggard voice said.

He stared down onto the face of a younger Jack, a mortally wounded Jack who would not come back to life. 'Right,' he finally said and slipped back to press the buttons on the Vortex Manipulator around his wrist. 'Hold on,' he warned and they slipped through the Vortex, Jack crying out in pain and nearly losing hold of the Manipulator. Ianto and John held him tighter until they landed in a heap on a floor.

Ianto closed his eyes for a second, settling his stomach and praying to the Powers to bring him any luck they were willing to give him. When everything had settled somewhat, he gave John a look and the other man quickly took over pressing his hands to Jack's wound.

Then he looked around and sighed in relief when three familiar faces stared down at him in shock. 'I'm in the right place,' he told himself loudly, but there was no time to dwell on his return. Jack's entire existence was hanging in the balance.

He rushed out of the autopsy bay (because that was where they had landed) and up the stairs towards Jack's office, the other immortal Jack's office. He nearly doubled over in nausea because of the time travel, but kept on.

'Retcon,' he shouted out when he got the door open and came face-to-face with a startled Jack, the immortal Jack. 'I need retcon.' Taking the little box he knew was where Jack kept the little white pills, he rushed back out and down the stairs, nearly tripping over his own legs in the process. Side-effects of time travelling were a fucking bitch.

He reached John and Jack, the mortal one, in record time and quickly opened the box and tried to remember the dose given for two years of memory loss.

'I got it,' he said.

John looked at him gravely. 'You sure this will work?'

It has to, he thought to himself. 'If this doesn't work, all three of us will be wiped out of existence.'

'It better work then,' Jack groaned. 'Get on with it!'

Ianto could hear footsteps behind them and knew time was running out. 'Here,' he told John and gave him four square pills. 'Two years.'

John nodded. 'Be safe, Ianto Jones.'

'Always am,' Ianto replied and nodded. 'Go!'

John hesitated and Jack had blacked out.

'Will you just fucking leave before I change my mind?' Ianto yelled and scrambled backwards away from the two men.

The Vortex opened and Jack and John were gone, leaving him crashing into a tray and into the wall. He fell to the ground, leaning against the wall, and staring at the now empty spot. He breathed heavily, seeing flashes before his eyes, and quickly began to open his coat to reveal his own wound, finally now aware of the damage he also had obtained from that last fight.

He fell to the side and crashed into the darkness, seeing Jack's brilliant smiling face before losing consciousness.

...

'What just happened?' Owen asked alternating between looking at the spot where two very familiar men had disappeared; to the also very familiar man he was treating.

Gwen shrugged helplessly.

Tosh waved her gadgets around, trying to pick up something, anything to indicate what had happened and why the Rift alarm hadn't gone off. 'There are spikes, but it's laced with something else,' she said and frowned when her device wouldn't give her a conclusive answer.

'It's the Vortex,' Jack commented. 'It is leftover energy from the Time Vortex.'

He was standing with his arms across his chest, staring fixatedly at... well, what appeared to be Ianto, except he wasn't quite right, Gwen thought. He looked older somehow and even completely off in dreamland, there was a frown around his mouth. His adorable curly hair had been shaved off, replacing it with a military cut that looked far to alien on him. His clothes were an all-black uniform with shining silver cuff links and buttons in a row on each side of his chest. The shoulder pads clearly showed some kind of military rank, but it was nothing she'd ever seen before. His trouser legs had been shoved into sturdy booths that clearly had seen their fair share of action. The only part the uniform that wasn't entirely black was the waistcoat hidden underneath the jacket with delicate red symbols, now ruined by blood.

'He should be fine. It's just a flesh wound,' Owen said and stepped back from Ianto.

'Are you saying Ianto just came through the Time Vortex?' Tosh asked Jack.

Jack crouched down beside Ianto and took hold of Ianto's left wrist where a black wriststrap was hidden underneath the uniform. 'Time Agent technology,' he said, frowning. He scanned Ianto with his own strap and it quickly lit up like a Christmas tree. 'There's Vortex residue all over him.'

'What does that mean?' Gwen asked.

'Remember when Martha went into the Pharm and Doctor Copley took note of something special around her?' Jack asked, trying to explain.

The team nodded simultaneously.

'When you time travel you're exposed to harmless radiation, but it'll stay on you.'

'Ianto time travelled?' Tosh said.

'Looks like it,' Jack answered.

'Is it him, though?' Gwen asked, staring worriedly down on the unconscious figure.

'I'll do some tests when he wakes up. Then we'll all have answers,' Owen said and gave Jack a worried look.

Jack nodded, still with a deep frown marring his features. 'I'll stand guard. You've all got work to do until he wakes.'

...

_He coIuldn't get out. He couldn't gaet out. He coulmdn't get out. He couldn't get obut._

_aHe couldn't get out. He coduldn't get out. He couldn't gewt out._

_He couldn't goet out._

_He coulldn't get out. He fcouldn't get out. He had to get out..._

He crashed around, unable to open his eyes, afraid that the nightmare had become real again. He breathed heavily, for the first time really noticing the clean air of the twenty-first century.

'Hey Ianto, easy!' a familiar voice said and it instantly soothed him.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring at the autopsy bay's ceiling.

'Interesting,' he said and groaned when he tried to move.

'Don't move. You've got stitches,' Jack said.

Ianto was lying on the ratty old couch and briefly wondered why exactly the couch was down in the autopsy bay, but technicalities aside, he was still in the Hub. He'd still made it to Torchwood Three.

He breathed out a sigh of relief.

Jack was sitting beside him on a chair, looking coolly down at him with his Captain's look.

'Who are you?' he asked.

'Ianto Jones.'

'Can you prove that?'

Ianto rustled with his bloodstained hands, but they were somehow cuffed to the couch. 'Left jacket pocket,' he said once he realised it would be impossible for him to get his proof.

Jack reached over and got out a pocket watch that Ianto had held close to his heart for six years. It was the one thing he had never left behind, one thing he'd never let go off because it was home, his real home, something he'd continually doubted towards the end.

'It's mine,' Jack stated.

'Yes,' Ianto said. 'I was gone for six years almost to the date, but I never let go of the watch. I couldn't.'

Jack stared at him. 'I missed your thirtieth birthday,' he said with sincere regret and placed his hand over Ianto's.

Ianto closed his eyes, loving the familiarity of the contact, but unable to face this Jack just yet when the mortal Jack was still fresh in his mind, not troubled in the same way as the immortal one was. 'No, you didn't. You just don't remember,' he whispered.

Jack gripped his hand tightly. 'You retconned me and made me lose two years of my life!'

'I did what was necessary, Jack!' Ianto hissed.

'Two years!' Jack almost shouted. 'I knew nothing!'

'If I had left you to remember, it would have disrupted the space-time continuum. You know this!'

'Apparently, so do you!'

Ianto bit his lip.

'Are you a Time Agent?' Jack asked calmly.

'Yes,' Ianto simply answered.

Jack stood up in frustration. 'Your uniform is late twenty-ninth century UNIT special force, which would later become the Time Agency. Is that where you ended up after the Rift took you?'

'No. I just liked the design,' Ianto told him honestly.

'Where did you end up then?' Jack asked sternly.

'Does it matter?'

He hated putting Jack in this position, of feeling his own medicine, but talking... that was out of the question, too.

Jack instantly retreated behind a wall of icy stone and Ianto almost cried because mortal Jack hadn't had that look. Not once in the two years Ianto had spent with Jack in the Time Agency had he had needed to retreat behind a protective wall to keep enemies at bay.

'No, it doesn't,' Jack said coolly. 'You're back and that's what matters.'

...


	5. Chapter Four

Sorry for the long wait. Please review :)

...

Chapter Four

...

It was midnight, twenty hours since Ianto had come back and one hour since he had woken up. Jack had sent them all home, but they had refused.

Owen was playing Tetris, a game he'd taken up recently to avoid doing work, which wasn't very unusual. Tosh was beating her own records in Sudoku and Gwen just sort of sat there between the two of them, while keeping her gaze directed at the autopsy bay, a frown marring her face.

When Ianto... or not Ianto had woken up, they had rushed over, but Jack had waved them back, saying he had it under control. Owen had argued he had to look at his patient, but even that excuse wasn't accepted. They retreated back to their workstations and waited impatiently while Jack and Ianto (or not Ianto) spoke.

The last half hour had been silent, though, and Gwen was worried.

She'd seen how upset Jack had been after Ianto disappeared and now he was back just like that. At least Jack had refused them to pack away Ianto life just yet, so Ianto would have a home... if it was Ianto, of course.

'I think it is Ianto,' she said loudly.

Owen temporarily stopped his game and Tosh multitasked.

'What makes you so sure?' Owen said.

'That was Jack and John Hart down in the autopsy bay. I'm sure of it,' Gwen said stubbornly.

'What makes you so sure it was them? What evidence do you have that it was them?' Tosh said, still looking at her screen.

'Come on, this is Ianto. You know, loving and loyal Ianto. He'd follow Jack even in time.'

'She's got a point,' Owen said. 'This is the Teaboy we're talking about.'

'Ianto's more than just the bloody Teaboy, Owen,' Tosh said, sounding.

Just as her words rang across the Hub, Ianto appeared up the stairs with Jack walking behind him. He still looked worse for wear with blood smeared on his hands and jacket, waistcoat and shirt opened to reveal the wound Owen had stitched open, but he appeared calm enough and free of handcuffs.

'Thanks, Toshiko,' he said with his trademark little smile.

Tosh visibly froze and instantly turned around wide-eyed. She then stood up and ran towards him, but stopped right in front of him, possibly unsure if it actually was him.

'It's him,' Jack said softly and Tosh flung herself into Ianto's arms.

Gwen wasn't far behind.

Ianto hugged them back longer than she would have expected. He had never been one to seek physical touch, not like Gwen sought it out, and therefore it was strange behaviour for him. That was until he hissed in pain.

'Sorry,' he muttered. 'It's the wound. I really should get cleaned up.'

'Yeah, you sort of stink,' Tosh commented with a bright smile.

'I did spend the last four months in a warzone. Running water is a luxury,' he said with a shrug and limped away towards the showers underneath the main Hub.

'How long was he gone for?' Owen asked when Ianto had disappeared from view.

'He says six years,' Jack replied, crossing arms across his chest. 'He also said that he had become a Time Agent.'

'Like you and John Hart?' Tosh asked.

'Apparently yeah, except John and I aren't active agents,' he said.

'But Ianto is? Active that is?' Gwen asked.

Jack nodded. 'Ianto is following another timeline where the Agency hasn't disbanded and that worries me.'

'Why?' Tosh asked.

'You don't really leave the Time Agency, that's why.'

With that last statement, Jack stalked into his office and shut the door with a bang.

...

The blood flowed down into the drain, swirling around in a pink mesh, while he scrubbed away the evidence of the mortal Jack's wound. The door was closed behind him, closed and locked for any intrusion. The water was scalding, but that was as luxury he hadn't been able to enjoy for a while.

The years away hadn't changed his physical looks much, apart from the scars, but even he could recognise the change. His eyes were hard, hardened by bloodshed and years spent around misery. They resembled Jack's age-old blue eyes, but fortunately, for Ianto's mental health, even he hadn't reached the point of misery Jack kept hidden away.

It had been six years since he'd woken up, having come through the Rift and landed in an unfamiliar place. Six years spent trying to return to Torchwood and now that he was back... maybe he shouldn't have come back.

The clothes would have to go. He had promised to stay under the radar, but he'd worn roughly the same clothes for four years and it would be hard to depart from. He would have to be less armed too, something he felt less than thrilled about. They were a comfortable weight, strapped to his sides and under his arms. But Jack had certain rules about guns in the Hub (and since Ianto would spend a lot of time there in the future), the guns would go... or at least hidden with easy access.

The Vortex Manipulator would stay. Oh, it would stay. He'd never depart from that thing again!

...

It was early in the morning before anyone left the Hub. Ianto had converted back into his posh suits that had been kept hidden in Jack's office, something Gwen had decided not to dwell on for too long and had started the long and depressing (in her mind, he seemed to enjoy it) clean-up after the week in earth time he had been gone. He had even fussed over the coffee machine, but had failed to operate it to his own satisfactory standards. The others hadn't complained since Owen had started making the coffee while Ianto had been gone and it was absolutely terrible.

Jack had been oddly quiet, following Ianto with his eyes while Ianto had made his way around the Hub like he had never left.

'Jack?' Gwen said tentatively, standing in the doorway to his office. .

'Go home,' he said, sitting behind his desk.

She ignored him and sat down in front of him. 'I just wanted you to know...' she began. 'If you needed to talk...'

'There's nothing to talk about,' Jack interrupted her sternly.

Gwen sighed. 'I know...'

'Gwen!' he said and now he looked angry. 'Stay out of it!'

She threw her hands in the air. 'Fine, Jack. See you tomorrow then.'

Ianto was on his way up when she went down and he gave her a nod and a small smile. She gave him a nod and smile in return. She stopped, though, at the foot of the stairs and looked back up.

'Ianto,' she called.

He froze, hand on the doorknob to Jack's office, and turned around. 'Yes?'

'I'm glad you're back,' she told him.

He frowned at her. 'Yeah,' he said and disappeared inside Jack's office.

...

_Joseph Hall. Joseph Hall. Joseph Hall. Joseph Hall. Joseph Hall..._

...


End file.
